


He Wasn't Always

by silverwolf_fox



Category: One Piece
Genre: Family, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25283968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverwolf_fox/pseuds/silverwolf_fox
Summary: Rocinante didn't think he could ever hate his brother, no matter the things he did, because everytime he looked at him, he still saw the little boy he grew up with.
Relationships: Donquixote Doflamingo & Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	He Wasn't Always

Rocinante didn’t always hate his brother. He hated the things that Doflamingo did, the monster that he became, but to be perfectly honest, he’s not sure he hated him at the end even as Doflamingo stood over him holding a smoking gun.

Because Doffy wasn’t always like that.

After he’d fallen back into the snowdrift, cold seeping in through his black feathered coat while the bullet holes burning in his chest soaked him in warm blood, he looked up at his brother and saw...well, his brother. He saw the boy that played with him and held his hand when he was scared. Even as a child, Rocinante never fit in well with the others his age within Mariejois, far too quiet and nervous around others, and it wasn’t uncommon for him to be bullied because of it. Because they were Celestial Dragons, there was never anything anyone would or even could do, but Doffy was always there to shove them right back when Roci was too soft to do it himself. He’d grab his hand and lead him back home, often scolding Roci for not fighting back though that never stopped Doffy from helping him again the next time.

Then they left Mariejois. What had started as a nice change had swiftly turned into the scariest time of Roci’s young life. Every day became a struggle to survive. Doffy was harsher with him, telling him he couldn’t be weak, but when they got caught scavenging the tash for moldy bread, he still took the brunt of the hits aimed at his little brother.

At the time, Roci had never considered how much he relied on Doflamingo and he didn’t really notice until they were separated. Raised amongst the Marines, never knowing where Doffy was or if he was okay, Roci withdrew into himself. He spoke less than he already did and often wondered why Sengoku, the Marine that found him, bothered to keep him. It didn’t help that one of his last memories of Doffy was of him killing their father, but even that seemed more understandable with the rose-tinted glasses that only saw a young child desperate to escape the torment that had been forced upon them.

Years went by, and Rocinante always wondered if Doffy missed him as much as he did. On that day when Roci had reappeared in his life to join his pirate crew, Doffy hugged him. Doflamingo had never been overly physically affectionate, but in that moment when they were reunited after so many years apart, Doffy swept his younger brother into his arms. He celebrated his return. He mourned his apparent muteness. All the while Roci silently suffered knowing his true purpose in being there. For all that he missed Doffy, his brother’s pirating had been causing far too much trouble, and nothing proved the necessity more than being in the midst of it. For years Roci had heard of the cruelty that followed behind the Donquixote Pirates, but it always hit him numbly. He knew Doffy was capable of terrible things, but it was still somehow hard to believe the things his own brother was doing.

And so Rocinante fell in with the crew. Stood by and watched as they pillaged and plundered, sometimes drinking himself into a stupor to get through the nights only for Doffy to force water into his hand and all but carry him to bed.

Did Doflamingo love Rocinante? Roci wasn’t sure. He’d always looked after him, so Roci liked to believe that Doffy loved him, at least in whatever way Doffy was capable of doing so. They’d always cared for each other growing up, and after everything they went through together, Roci didn’t think it was possible for him to not love Doflamingo.

But then Rocinante didn’t think Doffy would shoot him either.


End file.
